The triumphs of Eugène Valmont
By: Robert Barr ; introduced by Stephen Knight.
Series: Oxford popular fiction
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Oxford [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 220
Subjects: Private investigators -- England -- London -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories, English; French -- England -- London -- Fiction; Humorous stories, English
Description: The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont (1906) brings together tales of the multifarious exploits of Robert Barr's elegant and cunning sleuth, Valmont, a brilliantly ironic parody of Sherlock Holmes.

Exhibiting the crucial combination of realism and imagination that characterizes the finest crime writing, the stories exude playfulness and wit, blending mystery and quasi-Gothic thrills with humorous detours and romantic adventure.

A notable figure in turn-of-the-century literary London and a friend of Conan Doyle, Barr was acutely aware of style as a form of statement and the stories are full of literary effects, commentary on the detective mystery genre, and Valmont's disparaging reflections on English values. From the hilarious satire of sensationalism in 'The Siamese Twin of a Bomb-Thrower' to the bizarre and operatic melodrama of 'The Ghost with the Club-Foot', Barr's stories delight the reader with their skill, variety, and never-abandoned sense of spirited fun.

This edition also includes Barr's two rare pastiches of Valmont's rival, Sherlock Holmes.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [xxiv]-xxv).